Start a Free Range Chicken Flock – Contest

  • Post published:02/10/2012
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Dreaming of free range chickens? Dreaming of sun yellow egg yolks? Dreaming of buk-buk-buk songs in the back yard? Dreaming of cheerful, domestic and productive chickens working for you and keeping you cheerful and domestic?  This is your chance to win Free Range Chicken Gardens book by Jessi Bloom and published by Timber Press - as well as a $50 gift card for chicken feed or supplies from McMurray Hatchery One chicken coop plan from The Garden Coop (a $20…

Free Range Chicken Gardens – Timber Press Giveaway

  • Post published:01/26/2012
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Yesterday I heard a discussion about the environmental and economic situation on the radio. One speaker laughed and said we'll all be stocking up on gold and backyard chickens. I don't have any gold, but I do have backyard chickens. As do many of my rural neighbors. However, I know that gardeners who live in town on small lots are also setting up backyard flocks. The town ordinances allow up to ten chickens. No roosters! If you don't…

Ornaments in the Garden – Plain and Fancy

  • Post published:01/19/2012
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While the ground is covered with snow and temperatures hover at zero, I've been trolling through photos of my visit to Seattle last July (with 70 other garden bloggers) and especially noticing ornaments in the garden, some plain and some fancy.  Many of us have birdbaths in our garden - even me - who has not ornamented my garden in any thoughtful way. It is not a big step to go from a simple birdbath to a fancy…

Look At My Loot

  • Post published:01/05/2012
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As Christmas drew near a  friend asked if I his Christmas gift had been delivered. I said no deliveries and then waited every day for my treat to arrive. I did get a Package Too Big notice from the Post Office and picked up this bag of compost that had a mailing label right on the bag. I assumed it was some sort of sample from the Seven Years Gold company, although it did seem an odd time…

Urban Greenways

  • Post published:12/21/2011
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  High Line in New York City 5-3-10 Annik LaFarge, author of On the High Line: A Walk Through America's Most Unique Urban Park, which will be available in April, is also writing a blog http://livinthehighline.com/ In the blog he writes about many other elevated/railroad gardens including The Bridge of Flowers. I visited the High Line in 2010 and it is a fabulous space, but it has to be said that the Shelburne Falls Bridge of Flowers predates the High…

Gifts for the Gardener

  • Post published:12/18/2011
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  In the ‘olden days’ garden catalogs did not arrive until after the new year, the first sign that spring will eventually return. Now my mailbox is already full of garden catalogs describing all kinds of plants, books and tools, every company hoping for some of those holiday dollars that are so important to business in these difficult days. The catalogs are really tempting because many gardeners are like me, greedy for a new plant, or a new…

Succulent Container Gardens

  • Post published:12/10/2011
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Houseplants have never been my strong suit. I rarely get cyclamens or amaryllis to rebloom, and I even gave up my everblooming abutilon this summer. I simply could not get rid of scale. I had to put it out of its misery. And yet I have kept succulents alive and in good shape for decades. My jade tree is over 20 years old. It survived being moved to my daughters’ houses while we were in China, and it…

We Have a Winner!

  • Post published:12/07/2011
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Congratulations to Laura Bell! Succulent Container Gardens and The Roses at the End of the Road will be on their way to you - as soon as I get an address. I know you will enjoy them. I also want to thank all the other commenters for visiting and making these past four years such an enjoyable time.

Last Day to Win

  • Post published:12/06/2011
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Today is the last opportunity you have to win a copy of my book about life on and off the Rose Walk, and Debra Lee Baldwin's book, Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants. Click here and leave a comment by midnight tonight, December 6. I will announce the winner, chosen at random tomorrow morning by 9 am. Four years ago, on December 6, the Feast of St. Nicholas, I gave myself a present that…

All’s Quiet

  • Post published:12/05/2011
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Life looks quiet here at the End of the Road, but looks are deceptive.  Yesterday I read and signed my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, at Boswell's Books in Shelburne Falls. On my way home I stopped at a friend's open house - and sold more books there! Tomorrow I will be signing books at Tower Square in Springfield, right outside the fabulous Festival of Trees exhibit. Expect some photos. And inside the house…